Stories of the Prophets Part 31

At one time the faithful, old Ethiopian warned them that the search party was near at hand. They were forced to hide in a cave for two days. It was then that Jeremiah cried:

"Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth."

This danger past, Jeremiah and Baruch continued their laborious task of finis.h.i.+ng the new scroll of prophecies. Then came Spring, and with it Jehoiakim's rebellion.

Nebuchadrezzar had not yet fully established himself on his throne in Babylon. He was too busy to deal with the rebellious Judean, himself.

So he ordered a guerrilla warfare to be carried on by detached troops in all parts of Judah. It was only a question of time, however, when Nebuchadrezzar would invade Judah with his entire army and crush Jehoiakim like a snail under foot. No wonder that Jeremiah asked:

"Who will have pity on thee, O Jerusalem?

Or who will bemoan thee?

Or who will turn aside to ask for thy welfare!"

His grief was not alone for the great and glorious city and for its people, but for himself as well, that he should have to witness what he knew was inevitable:

"Oh, that I could comfort myself against sorrow!

My heart is faint within me.

The harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved.

For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt.

I mourn; dismay hath taken hold of me.

Is there no balm in Gilead?

Is there no physician there?

Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

"Oh, that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.

Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; That I might leave my people and go from them."

This despondency and hopelessness did not last long, however. As Nebuchadrezzar's guerrillas continued their cruel and merciless warfare, destroying crops and whole villages, Jeremiah determined that he must once more return to Jerusalem. He was ready and willing to pay for his efforts in behalf of his country with his life, if need be.

A comforting and encouraging message came to him from G.o.d, at this time:

"I will make thee unto this people a fortified, brazen wall; and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee.

"And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible."

But Baruch and Ebed-melech counseled against undue risks. They had heard that the Rechabites, that tribe of wandering nomads, which, because of the vow their ancestor, Jonadab, son of Rechab, had taken never to settle permanently in any definite place and never to follow agricultural pursuits, had been driven south by the marauding guerrillas and were making their way toward Jerusalem. Jeremiah and Baruch fell in with them and came, un.o.bserved, into the city.

Many strange stories had been told about these nomads and the whole population turned out to gape and wonder at them. Jeremiah directed them to the Temple, and hundreds of people followed them.

At the Temple, Jeremiah ordered bowls of wine and cups and invited the Rechabites to refresh themselves with drink.

Jazaniah, their leader, arose in his place and, with a courteous bow to Jeremiah, replied:

"We drink no wine. For, Jonadab, our father, commanded us: 'Ye shall never drink wine, neither ye nor your sons. And we have obediently done just as Jonadab, our forefather, commanded us.'"

This incident gave Jeremiah the opportunity once more to pen his artillery against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

"Thus saith the Lord:

"'Will he not learn instruction as to how one should heed my words? For, while the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, have performed the command of their forefather, this people hath not hearkened unto me.'

"Therefore, thus saith the Lord: 'Behold I am about to bring upon Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have p.r.o.nounced against them.'"

Jeremiah thus revealed dramatically the meaning of all his preaching.

Just as the Rechabites had remained faithful to the ancient vow of their ancestors, so must Judah remain faithful to the covenant between them and their G.o.d, if the country was to be saved from the hands of the Babylonians.

Yet, this proved to be but one more act in the hopeless part that Jeremiah was playing in the drama of Judah. Hopeless, indeed, it was now. As Jeremiah himself expressed it:

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin, Or the leopard his spots?

Then may ye also do good That are taught to do evil."

The very next year, the year 597, Nebuchadrezzar gathered his full army at Riblah and prepared to march on Jerusalem.

CHAPTER XVII.

_The First Deportation._

Poor, miserable Jehoiakim! He was not even given an opportunity to meet Nebuchadrezzar on the battlefield in a single engagement. The Babylonian had hardly entered Judean territory when Jehoiakim died and was buried with his ancestors.

Of course, Jeremiah's prophecy, at the moment of his anger, that Jehoiakim's body would be thrown to the dogs, did not come true; but the king's death did not in any way put off the calamity that was to befall Jerusalem and its people. Upon hearing of Jehoiakim's death, Nebuchadrezzar, at Riblah, hastened his preparations to besiege Jerusalem.

An eighteen-year-old boy, Coniah, also known as Jehoiachin, succeeded his incapable father to the throne.

Jeremiah's advice to the young king was to submit to Nebuchadrezzar and remain in peace. The policy of Nebuchadrezzar, with regard to his dependencies, was that of peace. As long as they did not rebel and paid their tribute, he left them entirely undisturbed to work out their own futures.

So Jeremiah hoped that if Jehoiachin would at once show his willingness to be honest with Nebuchadrezzar, there would still be a chance for the country. Therefore he sent this message to the king:

"Say to the king and to the queen mother, 'Sit ye down low, For from the head hath fallen your fair crown.'"

Urged on by the queen mother and his father's counselors, however, Jehoiachin proposed to hold out against the Babylonian siege.

Jeremiah, therefore, delivered the following oration in Jerusalem:

"As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah (Jehoiachin), the son of Jehioakim, wore the signet ring upon my right hand, I would pluck him thence. And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, whom thou dreadest, into the hands of the Chaldeans, and I will hurl thee forth, and thy mother who bore thee, into a land where ye were not born, and there ye shall die. But to the land for which they long they shall not return.

"Is Coniah despised as a broken vessel and thrown forth into a land which he knoweth not? O land, land, hear the word of the Lord! Write down this man as childless! For no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah."

But Jehoiachin continued his stubborn defense until, driven by the horrors of famine, he

"together with his mother and his servants, his princes and his chamberlains went to meet Nebuchadrezzar."

On this unconditional surrender, Nebuchadrezzar determined never again to be troubled by stiff-necked, rebellious Judah. To that end he thoroughly ransacked the treasuries of the Temple and of the royal palace. He took away all the gold vessels that belonged to the wors.h.i.+p of the Temple and, in addition, carried away

"as captives, all Jerusalem and all the princes and all the mighty warriors, even ten thousand, and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, except the poorest people of the land.

"And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king's mother and the king's wives, and his chamberlains, and the chief men of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.